All posts tagged New York Wine & Food Festival

Perhaps the last place you’d expect to run into a one-time Country Music Association female vocalist of the year is at a gourmet gathering in the far-from-Nashville setting of New York City.

But there was Trisha Yearwood, the voice behind such hits as “The Song Remembers When” and “She’s In Love With the Boy,” making a multi-layer carrot cake for a gathering of fans at the New York Wine & Food Festival this weekend.

On the final morning of the New York City Wine & Food Festival, three different chefs hosted brunches across the city. In Midtown, Ming Tsai introduced a Dim Sum & Disco four-course meal, Jacques Torres did his chocolate thing at the James Beard House in Greenwich Village and “Farmer Bob” Walker held a Farm to Table brunch — meaning all of the ingredients used during the meal came from within a 100 mile radius of the city — at the Fire Museum in Manhattan’s Soho district.

At the Dim Sum & Disco affair, eaters arrived at the China Grill on 53rd Street and were immediately greeted by blaring tunes from the 70s and a individually-sized bottle of sparkling sake. More sake — a flight of five different varieties — was waiting at each diner’s place setting, as well as flutes of champagne. Lucy Cabrera, the President and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City kicked off the festivities, thanking everyone for coming (all proceeds from the festival’s net proceeds directly benefit the charity), and introduced chef Ming Tsai. Tsai joked that normally he’d begin his remarks with a push for the Boston Red Sox, but given that the Yankees are up two games in the first round of the playoffs, he’d refrain. He then launched into a description of what dim sum was for the newbies, calling it a form of Chinese tapas, and warned everyone that they were about to gain two pounds in the next couple hours. Among the foodstuffs served were Tsai’s own Foie Gras & Maitake Shumai, Zak Pelaccio’s Steamed Buns with Pork Belly from Fatty Crab, and some (rather soupless) Pork Soup Dumplings from Shanghai Cuisine. The most, er, creatively presented dish was Susur Lee’s Shrimp and Mango Rolls with Coca Cola Powder & Crystal Spinach (pictured), which was served in the fashion of a certain illegal activity. Read More »

As part of the publicity campaign for her upcoming vegan lifestyle book “The Kind Diet,” out Oct. 13 from Rodale Books, actress/conservationist Alicia Silverstone (“Clueless”) made an early morning pit stop at the New York City Wine & Food Festival, giving a culinary demonstration at Comix, a comedy club converted for the event. The 33-year-old vegan made three recipes from her book — a fried seitan pasta dish, a caesarsalad and a tofu cheesecake — all without the use of meat or dairy, which has been her culinary credo for the past decade. (Read a Q&A with Silverstone here.)

Silverstone began the demonstration by telling the audience she was extremely nervous because she’d never done anything like this before. Dressed in a brown apron over sleeveless white t-shirt, she was helped by two assistants who whisked out thepre-prepared version of each each dish at the appropriate moments and were a sounding board for Silverstone’squestions (“Do you think the stove is hot?” “Is this what’s in a real Caesar salad?”). Clearly more comfortable cooking in her own kitchen than in the test kitchen, the actress also referred to several pieces of equipment as “thingys” and repetitively described all things good as “yummy” and all things bad as “yucky.” Read More »

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